Arab_and_anti_Israel_sites have been abuzz over the past couple of days over this story (this version from Tehran Times🙂

Israeli arms distribution company Global CST has reportedly, under the authorization of Tel Aviv, provided Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi with African mercenaries to clamp down on anti-government protesters. Egyptian sources have revealed that the Israeli company has so far provided Gaddafi’s regime with 50,000 African mercenaries to attack the civilian anti-government protesters in Libya. The arms company was previously convicted in an African country over illegal deals, News-Israel website reported. Sources say Global CST had obtained the permission for providing the mercenaries to Gaddafi from the Israeli officials in advance.

Like all good rumors, this one has a tiny shred of truth. First, the first published source was the Israeli Inyan Mercazi (Central issues) website. The article there quotes unnamed Egyptian sources making these accusations, including the charge that the CEO of the company met with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials and received explicit approval to provide weapons and men for Gaddafi. So already we see that the original source for this article is suspect. No documents are reproduced, no proof is made, and how could an Egyptian source know that the Global CST CEO met with Israeli leaders, let alone what transpired in the meetings?All these unsourced accusations are being repeated without confirmation by Inyan Mercazi.The Israeli site then adds on some background: that the company was once in trouble for selling arms to some African country in the past, and indeed it does provide security services worldwide.Let’s look at the previous incident, as it will shed light on how absurd this rumor is:From Ha’aretz, May 6, 2010:

The Defense Ministry’s recently fined Global CST and its owner, Maj. Gen. (ret. ) Israel Ziv for deviating from the restricted permit it was granted by the ministry and signing a contract with the government of Guinea to set up and train Special Forces there and supply them with weapons. According to sources in the Defense Ministry, it was agreed that the fine, around NIS 90,000, would not be transferred to the state’s coffers, and instead the company would invest it in developing training courses for its employees, where they would learn the Defense Ministry’s guidelines and export regulations. Global CST denies they were fined, but confirmed that it had been ordered to retrain its employees.

This means that the company will not do anything without the approval of the Israeli government. So in order to believe this story, you must believe that Israel is supporting sending mercenaries to Gaddafi.Is it a coincidence that this was the same rumor that erupted in the early days of the Libyan uprising, when both sides accused the other of Zionist collusion?Tracing back this rumor, there is not a shred of evidence and it belies logic. That of course doesn’t stop people who hate Israel from seizing on this story, buttressed by it being quoted in an Israeli newspaper, as being unquestionably true. Ma’an picked up on the story, from where it spread to Al Jazeera, where it then turned into 50,000 mercenaries being recruited from South Sudan, Chad, Nigeria – and Guinea, the same country we know that Global CST is banned from dealing with!Interestingly, Global CST’s head, General Yisrael Ziv, sent a letter to Al Jazeera completely denying the story, calling it absurd, ridiculous and disgusting, and saying that Al Jazeera’s broadcasting of these lies threatens the legitimate security work done by the company. (They have done security work worldwide, including Georgia.)Of course, it is now too late, and none of the news sites are bothering to publish the explicit denials of a story that had no basis to begin with. Israel haters don’t need proof for their lies, after all – just a small peg to hang their lies on, one that was provided this time – stupidly – by an Israeli newspaper.(h/t Suzanne and Naftali)

In 2008, the official Wafa Palestinian Arab news agency — under the direct control of PA president Mahmoud Abbas — reported that Israel is using rats to drive Arabs out of the Old City of Jerusalem.“Rats have become an Israeli weapon to displace and expel Arab residents of the occupied Old City of Jerusalem,” Wafa reported.“Over the past two months, dozens of settlers come to the alleyways and streets of the Old City carrying iron cages full of rats. They release the rats, which find shelter in open sewage systems.”Wafa went on to quote anonymous Arab residents as saying that they had tried to poison the ratsbut nothing worked.Hasan Khater, secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Front in Jerusalem, said that the goal was to “increase the suffering of the [Arabs] in Jerusalem by turning their lives into a real tragedy and forcing them to evict their homes and leave the city.”Palestine Today added that the rats were damaging Arab shops and homes.As we speak, evil Zionist scientists are breeding these super-rats. Poison and deadly traps cannot kill them.

The Zio-Boars: Resistance is Futile

But more impressively, the rats are trained to distinguish between Jewish and Arab homes and shops in Jerusalem, and only attack the Arabs. This is no doubt the result of years of geneticresearch combined with micro-chips implanted in the rats’ brains to ensure that the victims are all 100% Arab.Read the rest of the post, here.

Settlers attempting to impede Palestinian olive harvests initiated a bizarre new tactic on Thursday, apparently leaving flocks of sheep at olive groves to feed on the small trees.Residents told Ma’an that Israeli settlers “dumped dozens of sheep” on Palestinian farmland neighboring the illegal settlement of Itamar, where the animals damaged and devoured dozens of olive and fig trees.57-year-old Jamil Daraqshah claimed that he saw an Israeli shepherd at his farm in the village of Awarta, which is south of Nablus, just days before. Also evidence, he said, is that Palestinians are not permitted to enter the area without first coordinating with the Palestinian-Israeli liaison office in Nablus.

In retrospect, it is so obvious. I mean, why wouldn’t Jews living in the area send their sheep to eat trees that would hurt their digestive systems and possibly ruin them for being sold? After all, they must get rid of the olive (and fig) trees, and how effective sheep are to do the job!

…and no doubt a shrewd politician like Ron Paul or Obama takes advantage of these biases and finds ways to signify his intent to fight an unspeakable threat, without identifying this threat specifically.

Reinforcing the paranoia [of the Nazis about Jews] was the belief that Weimar culture was inspired and controlled by Jews. Indeed, was not the entire regime a Judenrepublik? There was very little basis for this last doxology, resting as it did on the contradictory theories that Jews dominated both Bolshevism and the international capitalist network.

similar to how Bush was ostracized for being under the influence by Jews.

many people (including prominent scholars such as Mearsheimer and Walt), believe that neoconservatism is a Jewish movement that promotes specifically Jewish interests. As David explained, this belief is primarily based on fallacious deductions from the overrepresentation of Jews among neocon intellectuals. He correctly emphasizes that it ignores key facts: that the views of Jewish neoconservatives differ little from those of gentile ones, that neocon hawkishness on the Arab-Israeli conflict is just one facet of their hawkishness on other foreign policy issues unrelated to Israel (and therefore not likely to to be a specifically Jewish agenda), and that the over representation of Jews among neocons is similar to that in many other intellectual movements (including plenty that were opposed to neoconservatism on most issues). As in Weimar Germany and early 20th century Russia, Jews tend to be overrepresented in numerous intellectual movements because a higher percentage of Jews than gentiles are intellectuals. It’s hard to find a major intellectual movement of the last 100 years where Jews were not overrepresented relative to their percentage of the general population, with the obvious exception of movements that were anti-Semitic or centered around a non-Jewish religion such as Catholicism. For similar reasons, Jews tend to be overrepresented in many occupations that require higher education and intellectual skills, which helps explain why they were and are overrepresented among finance capitalists.

…In reality, Jewish capitalists tended to behave much like gentile ones, focusing primarily on maximizing their profits. Jewish communists such as Leon Trotsky were brutal totalitarians. But their gentile counterparts, such as Lenin and Stalin, were much the same.

…and no doubt a shrewd politician like Ron Paul or Obama takes advantage of these biases and finds ways to signify his intent to fight an unspeakable threat, without identifying this threat specifically.

Reinforcing the paranoia [of the Nazis about Jews] was the belief that Weimar culture was inspired and controlled by Jews. Indeed, was not the entire regime a Judenrepublik? There was very little basis for this last doxology, resting as it did on the contradictory theories that Jews dominated both Bolshevism and the international capitalist network.

similar to how Bush was ostracized for being under the influence by Jews.

many people (including prominent scholars such as Mearsheimer and Walt), believe that neoconservatism is a Jewish movement that promotes specifically Jewish interests. As David explained, this belief is primarily based on fallacious deductions from the overrepresentation of Jews among neocon intellectuals. He correctly emphasizes that it ignores key facts: that the views of Jewish neoconservatives differ little from those of gentile ones, that neocon hawkishness on the Arab-Israeli conflict is just one facet of their hawkishness on other foreign policy issues unrelated to Israel (and therefore not likely to to be a specifically Jewish agenda), and that the over representation of Jews among neocons is similar to that in many other intellectual movements (including plenty that were opposed to neoconservatism on most issues). As in Weimar Germany and early 20th century Russia, Jews tend to be overrepresented in numerous intellectual movements because a higher percentage of Jews than gentiles are intellectuals. It’s hard to find a major intellectual movement of the last 100 years where Jews were not overrepresented relative to their percentage of the general population, with the obvious exception of movements that were anti-Semitic or centered around a non-Jewish religion such as Catholicism. For similar reasons, Jews tend to be overrepresented in many occupations that require higher education and intellectual skills, which helps explain why they were and are overrepresented among finance capitalists.

…In reality, Jewish capitalists tended to behave much like gentile ones, focusing primarily on maximizing their profits. Jewish communists such as Leon Trotsky were brutal totalitarians. But their gentile counterparts, such as Lenin and Stalin, were much the same.

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas suspects that Israeli intelligence services are supplying its Gaza Strip stronghold with chewing gum that boosts the sex drive in order to “corrupt the young,” an official said on Tuesday.

“We have discovered two types of stimulants that were introduced into the Gaza Strip from Israeli border crossings,” Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan told AFP.

“The first type is presented in the form of chewing gum and the second in the form of drops,” he said.

The Islamist movement that has run the densely populated and impoverished Palestinian territory for the past two years said it has detained members of a gang that helped to bring in the products.

“They admitted during the investigation they were linked to the Zionist intelligence services,” he said.

One suspect said he had received the products from an Israeli intelligence officer at a cut-rate price “with the officer saying they did not want money, but to distribute the products among the young people of Gaza,” Shahwan said.

“The intelligence services are aiming to corrupt the young generation by distributing these products among students.”

The story came to light after a Palestinian man filed a complaint that his daughter had experienced “dubious side effects” after chewing the offending gum, Israeli media reported.

The Israeli military declined to comment officially on the allegations, which one military source termed “absurd.”

Hamas says such-and-such, a couple of quotes from a Hamas offical, a quick Israeli denial, and ship it out.

hey say sex sells. But should journalists be buying it so readily?

AFP seems to be taking a bit too seriously the latest Hamas allegation — that Israeli intelligence is trying to “corrupt the young” of Gaza by distributing aphrodisiac chewing gum and drops. AFP treated this accusation as ‘news’ that should be reported in a straightforward manner. Here’s their sober report:

But it would seem that if this accusation is newsworthy, it’s either a) because it’s an example of the government-driven incitement the demonizes “the Zionists” as degenerate, immoral, and a threat to the purity of Gaza’s daughters; or b) because it’s just funny.

AFP, though, doesn’t bother soliciting quotes form MEMRI, Palestinian Media Watch or other organizations that have documented or expressed concern with anti-Israel incitement; and they don’t bother quoting anyone laughing their heads off.

Nor does the French wire service point out that this is just the latest appearance by a threadbare and disproved charge.

Back in July 1996, for example, it was Egypt that was excited after a parliamentarian referred to “15 cases in which women and girls had sexually assaulted men after chewing” suspicious gum.

The Washington Post reported on this with an appropriate degree of skepticism. Their story began:

This is a story about chewing gum, sex and the Middle East peace process.No, really.The story begins in mid-April, when police in this bustling city in the Nile delta 70 miles north of Cairo launched an investigation into the sale of chewing gum allegedly laced with a powerful aphrodisiac. A local member of parliament then weighed in, claiming that he knew of 15 cases in which women and girls had sexually assaulted men after chewing the stuff.The tale proved irresistible for several of Egypt’s feisty, and often wildly inaccurate, opposition newspapers, which wasted no time in identifying the distributor of the gum as — you guessed it — Israel. One went so far as to name the Russian emigre chemist who allegedly concocted the evil substance on behalf of Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad.Never mind that the gum package is stamped “Made in Germany” and that police have substantiated neither an Israel connection nor the rape claims. When it comes to Israel, it seems, many Egyptians are willing to believe almost anything, so long as it is bad.“Any corruption that comes to us comes from Israel,” said Goma Ahmed Mohammed from behind the counter of his small fabric shop here. “They would do anything to bring down Islam.”Such paranoia might seem strange …Strange indeed. And strikingly similar to Hamas’s story: “Another variety,” the Post quoted the parliamentarian as saying, “comes in the form of medicine drops…” (Washington Post, 7/10/96, John Lancaster).

And just one year later (again in the steamy month of July) another Post correspondent noted with skepticism that the charge had spread to the West Bank and Gaza Strip:

The Israeli plot, as Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority exposed it recently, was triply diabolical.To begin with, it aroused irresistible sexual appetites in women, undermining Islamic morals and self-restraint. Then it sterilized them to suppress Arab population growth. Worst of all, according to Palestinian Supply Minister Abdel Aziz Shaheen, it was capable of “completely destroying the genetic system of young boys.”All that with packets of bubble gum. Palestinian officials maintain, having subjected the gum to laboratory tests, that it is spiked with sex hormones and sold at suspiciously low prices near schoolhouses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Variations of the story, blending pseudo-science with inventive tales of conspiracy by Israel’s secret services, have been making the rounds of the official Palestinian media for weeks.Promoted at the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority, the story recalls a propaganda style that Palestinians largely abandoned after their first accord with Israel in 1993.And just to be sure,

The Washington Post commissioned a test of allegedly contaminated chewing gum provided by Palestinian health officials.Dan Gibson, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at Hebrew University and a member of the left-wing lobby group Peace Now, said that, using a mass spectrometer capable of detecting as little as a microgram of progesterone, he found none in the gum. When used as a contraceptive pill, according to a standard physician’s reference, the effective dose is about 300 times larger than a microgram.In practice, the body rapidly inactivates progesterone taken by mouth. Birth control pills normally rely on synthetic compounds known as progestins or progestogens that are similar but not identical. These oral contraceptives, according to Stanley G. Korenman, the head of endocrinology at the Center for the Health Sciences of the University of California at Los Angeles, generally diminish female libido rather than increase it, although the effects in either direction are not dramatic.In men, progestins are powerful inhibitors of sperm production. They also impair libido and the ability to maintain an erection. (Washington Post, 7/28/97, Barton Gellman)The Israeli gum made it all the way to Saudi Arabia, or at least the story did: “Saudi Arabia has seized banned chewing gum and drops that claimed to improve male sexual performance, a Saudi newspaper reported. The stimulants … were apparently smuggled from Israel, the daily al-Eqtisadiah said.”

The Syrians, at least, don’t seem to mind some good gum:

Sex sells in the souk, where Syrians flock to buy the latest lingerie, some of it edible, some sporting flashing lights and all of it kitsch personified. …His shop may be tiny, but he is not just selling “smalls”. Piled on a table is aphrodisiac chewing gum called “Jaguar Power”, sexy massage oils and even delay sprays imported from China and Thailand.Apparently Jaguar brand isn’t made in Israel.